US STOCKS-Wall Street ends higher as traders return to AI stocks

Updates with market close

By Noel Randewich and Johann M Cherian

March 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street ended sharply higher on Monday, fueled by gains in AI-related stocks, with Meta Platforms climbing after a report that it is preparing for sweeping layoffs, while oil prices retreated amid ongoing uncertainty about the Middle East conflict.

Meta <META.O> jumped after Reuters reported that the social media platform plans to shrink its workforce by at least 20% to offset costly artificial-intelligence infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers.

Nvidia NVDA.O climbed after CEO Jensen Huang announced new components at the chipmaker's annual developer conference.

Taiwan's Foxconn <2317.TW>, which makes AI servers using Nvidia chips, issued a strong quarterly revenue forecast on Monday.

Tesla <TSLA.O> rose after CEO Elon Musk said the company's Terafab project to make AI chips will launch in seven days.

Micron Technology MU.O jumped after the memory chipmaker announced plans for a second manufacturing facility in Taiwan.

A modest drop in crude prices after the U.S. said it would be "fine" with some Iranian, Indian and Chinese ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz also offered some relief to the market.

"You've got news that Iranian oil tankers are moving through, or are soon going to be moving through, the Strait of Hormuz, which is a positive for global economic stability," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

"But on balance, the path forward is filled with twists and turns. ... There's lack of visibility when the conflict is likely to end."

Higher energy prices are likely to feature prominently in central bank meetings globally this week.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. Traders have pushed back their expectations for an interest rate cut of at least 25 basis points beyond October, according to LSEG-compiled data, compared with their previous expectation of a cut in July.

"There are a couple of reasons to take any signals from this meeting with a pinch of salt. First, a swing in oil prices in either direction could quickly change the Fed's thinking, and second, markets might slightly discount messages from Chair (Jerome) Powell, given this will be one of the last of his term," said James McCann, senior economist at Edward Jones in a note.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 67.42 points, or 1.02%, to end at 6,699.61 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 269.34 points, or 1.22%, to 22,374.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 385.63 points, or 0.83%, to 46,944.10.

Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE volatility index .VIX, dropped, while the rate-sensitive Russell 2000 index .RUT gained.

Despite logging declines over the past three weeks, U.S. equities have fared better than global peers, buoyed by a rebound in beaten-down technology stocks and as the country is a net oil exporter. However, the S&P 500 remains down about 2% so far in 2026.

February industrial production increased 0.2%, slightly better than expectations of a 0.1% rise.

Travel stocks Delta Air Lines DAL.N and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings NCLH.N both gained, lifted by lower oil prices.

Crypto stock Strategy Inc MSTR.O climbed as bitcoin BTC= rallied around 3%.

Discount retailer Dollar Tree DLTR.O rose after signaling it could benefit from favorable tariffs in the near term.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian, Utkarsh Tushar Hathi in Bengaluru, and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Maju Samuel, Shinjini Ganguli and Aurora Ellis)

((noel.randewich@thomsonreuters.com))